US Dollar back to flat after White House calls Amazon hostile

NEW YORK (April 29) The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, is having a knee jerk reaction on the back of comments from United States (US) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. During a Q&A at the White House Leavitt stepped in to take over from Bessent on a question around Amazon, that will publish the tariff impact on prices from goods it is selling on its website. Representative Leavitt said she just got off the phone with President Donald Trump and that this move by Amazon is considered hostile and is political motivated, Bloomberg Television reported. Meanwhile markets already got disappointed by Secretary Bessent as apparently no trade deals are to be announced, and will take several more weeks before done.

On the economic calendar front, there is some lighter data ahead on Tuesday, with the central theme on the JOLTS Job Openings report for March. Although this is backward-looking, before US tariffs were implemented, it could already give a sentiment if US companies were preparing for an impact and reduced their job hiring activity. Besides that, the preliminary US Goods Trade Balance for March saw a further deterioration of its deficit. 

Daily digest market movers: Lashing out at Amazon

• Sentiment tanked during the White House press conference where both Bessent and Leavitt spoke to reports. The main shocker came after Leavitt said that she just got off the phone with President Trump and that off now, the White House labels Amazon as hostile and that showing tariffs on each product is a hostile and political act.
• The preliminary US Goods Trade Balance for March saw a wider deficit, at $162 billion, coming from the previous deficit at $147 billion. 
• Preliminary Wholesale Inventories for March came in at 0.5%, below the expected 0.7% and matching the 0.5% revised number from February. 
• The February House Price Index fell to only a monthly 0.1% increase, missing the 0.3% estimate and from a revised 0.3% in February. 
• At 14:00 GMT, the JOLTS Job Openings report for March is expected to contract further to 7.5 million, coming from 7.568 million previously. The Consumer Confidence for April is also due, though no forecast is available. 
• US equity markets dip on the Amazon comment from the White House and are dragging European equities lower as well, though still in the green. US futures are in the red ahead of the opening bell.
• The CME FedWatch tool shows the chance of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the May’s meeting stands at 8.9% against a 91.1% probability of no change. The June meeting sees a 62.6% chance of a rate cut. 
• The US 10-year yields trade around 4.21%, ticking a bit lower with traders slowly but surely buying back into US bonds. 

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